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Methodology for Rehabilitation of the Water Supply System of a Heritage

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Conference Paper · June 2016

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Methodology for Rehabilitation of the Water Supply System of a

Heritage Building

Soheyl SAZEDJ1, Maria Madalena MOREIRA2, António MORAIS1, Maria Helena SILVA2
(1)
Department of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
sazedj@fa.ulisboa.pt, ajmorais@fa.ulisboa.pt
(2)
Department of Rural Engineering, School of Science and Technology, University of Évora, Évora,
Portugal, mmvmv@uevora.pt, mhfcsilva@hotmail.com

Abstract
Rehabilitation as an alternative to new construction is an expanding market due to a growing cultural
awareness for the need to promote conservation actions and rehabilitation of the built heritage.
This line of research aims to contribute to a better understanding and characterization of the
processes that is involved in rehabilitation works. The water supply systems are a major cause of
appearance of building damages, especially in cases of improperly done interventions. Old buildings
are treasures of surprises; the structure may not be coherent through out the building; plants, if
available, may not be reliable, and all in all many surprises show up with the progress of rehabilitation
work. These obstacles complicate technically and economically the rehabilitation and consequently
lead to common mistakes and wrong decisions which reduce the durability of the recovery.
th
This case study of a 19 Century Romantic mansion in the World Heritage City of Sintra that has been
converted to a small hotel is considered for analysis to study a methodology for proposing a new water
supply system, aiming to adopt efficient construction solutions, less intrusive and economically viable,
to meet the building's comfort needs within their constraints. Preferably the methodology to develop
should be of general interest.

Keywords: Rehabilitation, Conservation, Renewing, Recovery, Water supply system

1. Introduction

The rehabilitation project of the private property Quinta das Murtas in Sintra offered an opportunity to
study a methodology for rehabilitation and analysing the appropriate options for the recovery of the
water supply system including renewing. The property had after 15 years of use as a small hotel unit
numerous pathologies. The first impression was that the causes for the pathologies might vary very
differently. In many cases the cause of the pathology was not clear. Additionally because of the
architectural complexity it urged the necessity to develop a methodology how to proceed to identify the
causes of the pathologies. One of the objectives of this paper is to keep this methodology general,
applicable also on other projects of rehabilitation. Another objective is to present the appropriate
solutions for recovery.
As the study started and the planning work was on going new pathologies occurred and called for
immediate action. In one case the water supply system was not functioning in a bathroom in the last
floor, in another case, at the opposite end of the hotel, water was dropping from the ceiling of a
bedroom in the second floor although the bathroom of the upper floor is in 5 meters of distance. These
situations forced to interfere with destructive methods to diagnose the pathology and recover at least
temporarily the pressure loss and the infiltration of water. At that time the hotel was still not closed for
the rehabilitation work and hosted guests. This situation caused that methodical steps like study of
documents, less destructive or non-destructive interventions as well as destructive interventions
happened sometimes simultaneously and didn’t quiet permit to follow the methodology as desired.
  

Despite of these problems, it was possible to develop a general methodology that could be tested
practically for accuracy. The methodology is not very much detailed in all its steps to allow adaptation
for specific needs like recovery of plaster, roofing, structure, water supply or this alike [1] [2].
After testing and application of this methodology the diagnosis and causes of the pathologies could be
identified and according to the classification of the building regarding its cultural value, solutions for
recovery of the pathologies could be analysed and compared for application.

2. Methodology

First some randomly chosen pathology was diagnosed. In all cases the diagnosis revealed
unexpected causes for the pathologies. This fact emphasised the necessity for a methodology that
goes beyond the normal procedure of identification, survey and diagnosis of the pathology and finally
elaborating possible solutions.
The methodology is divided in six steps A to F. Step B is divided in three independent and separate
steps B1 to B3, which refer to different levels of survey according to the necessities to finalize the
diagnosis.
Having in mind the conservation of culture and architecture, and in search of the correct rehabilitation,
after visualization and detailed registration of the pathologies (A), the history of the building must be
studied.

A
IDENTIFICATION OF PATHOLOGIES
1. Visual observance
2. Documental registration
a. Photography
b. Chart
c. Plant

B1
DOCUMENTATIONAL STUDY
1. Architecture, plants, descriptions, materials
2. Techniques used for construction
3. Climate and environment conditions at construction time
4. Structure, sanitary infrastructure, sewage and drain system, ventilation, heating
system, electricity
5. Historical and cultural value for owner and society

B2
APPLICATION OF LESS DESTRUCTIVE TECHNIQUES
If conclusive, skip C and D

Survey, measurement and documentation of all data that characterize the

building according to B1.
If conclusive, skip D

B3 (only if justified or in case of emergency)

DESTRUCTIVE TECHNIQUES
Study of the building through destructive procedure,
if historical and cultural values justify and if technical
conditions allow this type of intervention.

C
SURVEY AND MEASUREMENT
Kind and level of analysis must be determined to understand the phenomenology of the
pathology. The analysis will start at a lower level and will be repeated (steps B and C)
until reaching the satisfactory level that provides conclusive results).

 
  

D
DIAGNOSTIC OF PATHOLOGY
Cause of the pathology

E
KINDS AND LEVELS OF INTERVENTION ASSOCIATED TO
THE CAUSE OF THE PATHOLOGY
1. Local
2. Broader

F
EVALUATION ON CULTURAL VALUE OF PATRIMONY
Degree of cultural patrimony/ public or individual interest/ real-estate/ heritage/
historic area/ old neighbourhood/ down town/ habitat or office area
RESTORAITION REHABILITATION CONSERVATION
Exact reproduction Partial reproduction
Conservation Recovering
Renewing

G
CONCEPTION OF RECOVERY SOLUTIONS

H
COMPARATIVE STUDY
1. Functionality
2. Technology
3. Economy I
4. Durability FINAL SOLUTION
5. Comfort
6. Energy consumption
7. Gas Emissions

Fig. 7: Flowchart of rehabilitation methodology

This includes the architecture, the plants, descriptions and the materials used as far as available. In
case of materials, specially the application of render and construction of walls, the techniques used
should be studied to understand the grade of quality. If documents miss, documents of similar projects
of the same area and culture can be studied.
It can also be of interest to understand at what climate and environmental conditions the construction
was executed. All these information refer to the quality of the construction that has to be conserved,
rehabilitated or improved.
To understand the structure of the building, the water supply, the sewage and drain system, the
heating system, the ventilation system as well as the electricity in case of more recent buildings are
further fundamental studies according the pathologies encountered. The reason is to find the ducts
and shafts of the installation.
Finally the value of the object for the owner and the society are further elements that determine the
search for the next steps, as the economy is dominant in the choice of the interventions (B1).
Once these readings are accomplished and the information gathered is satisfactory, survey and
measurement may be continued, otherwise less destructive techniques must be considered to obtain

 
  

the missing information. Among these survey techniques are electrical tools that enable the
measurement of humidity like hygrometer, the quality of materials, the visualization of hidden elements
and laboratory analysis to define material composition or specification (B2).
These steps can be approached at several levels to gradually progress and as long as the results
achieved are not conclusive they must be repeated. If all these efforts are not satisfactory or in case of
emergency, destructive techniques must be applied, as opening of walls or ceilings where less
damage can be expected, to discover the cause of the problem (B3).
For technical and economical reasons B1 and B2 can be started at low levels and repeated until
satisfactory data is obtained for survey and measurement (C) to understand the phenomenology of the
pathology, which enables to formulate the diagnosis and the reason for the appearance of the
pathology (D).
Several possible interventions associated to the cause of the pathology have to be elaborated, which
can rehabilitate and recover the damaged elements (E). In the next step the cultural value must be
evaluated, it depends on public or individual interest, its real-estate value, type of heritage, if located in
a historic area, in an old neighbourhood or down town area and if it is in a habitat or office area.
According to the historical and cultural value it has to be decided if it is a case of cultural patrimony
where only restoration can be applied to maintain the architecture and the materials, if it is a case of
rehabilitation, which in accordance of the cultural value a gradual renewing of materials is acceptable,
or if it is the case of conservation of the existing architectural elements and materials (F). This defines
the conception of the recovery solutions, which has to be compared in the next step (G). In some
cases like restoration of decorative elements or paintings, the conditions for the selection of the
solutions might be so limited that only one final solution can be considered (I). But usually the possible
interventions must be compared concerning functionality, technology, economy, durability, comfort,
energy consumption and gas emissions to find the appropriate solution (H). These solutions might
need a reconsideration of the conception or even of the cultural value as for example the rehabilitation
or installation of the water supply system or the seismic reinforcement of patrimony might cause
changes in the architecture.
Three points are exceptional and imperative in the methodology elaborated. First, between
identification and survey several steps are needed to proceed to an effective survey and measuring.
Second, to substitute the expression solution with intervention, as solution has a very rigorous aspect
and is only used in the final steps. Instead, the intention is to find intervention possibilities that must be
analysed carefully and compared to meet the final solution that satisfies the necessities of the users
and owners of the building. The latter is the third point that completes this procedure.

3. Case study

In the mentioned rehabilitation project the methodology was developed although it couldn’t be fully
applied, because much pathology were encountered in a state of emergency where immediate
destructive intervention was inevitable to prevent further severe damages. Nevertheless, we start
describing in brief the history and the culture of the zone and than move to describe the object.

3.1 History and architecture of Sintra

The landscape of the Sintra hills favoured the interaction between nature and human action, creating a
landscape with high cultural value. Nature, architecture and human occupation show a unique cultural
landscape in the panorama of Portuguese history. Secular buildings of historical and cultural value are
visible, like the Moorish Castle (Fig. 1), a mark of Arab presence, the Sintra National Palace (Fig. 2)
whose shape and volume of the chimneys protrude from the rest mass, seeming to give it continuity,
the National Pena Palace (Fig. 3) and the Palace of Monserrate (Fig. 4) as marks of the period known
as Romanticism or even the Palace and Quinta da Regaleira (Fig. 5), testimony to the eclecticism of
the late nineteenth / early twentieth century. They are also visible numerous summer farms, palaces,
mansions and homes scattered throughout the mountains surrounded by extensive parks and
gardens.
In the fifteenth century the court settled in Sintra. In 1481, Alfonso V died in the Sintra National Palace
where he was born and also there, King João II was acclaimed king of Portugal, justifying once again
the growing importance of Sintra in the royal itineraries.
The situation of the Restoration and its wars with Spain (1640-1668), the statement of Mafra in the
reign of King João V (1706-1750) with the construction of the Convent and, finally, the construction of
another royal palace in Queluz from 1747, departed the village of royal and aristocratic circuits. The
1755 earthquake caused enormous damage, which is most evident in the Royal Palace, the Moorish
Castle and the Monastery Nossa Senhora da Pena.
The revival starts multifaceted processes in this new era, giving relevance to new conceptions and
methods based on the rediscovery and the desired revival of antiquity. In the late eighteenth century,
Romanticism emerged as a European cultural movement, whose influence was consolidated until the

 
  

mid-nineteenth century. The application and combination of appropriate elements of different historical
styles facilitate the emergence of new buildings, often developed from a different technical basis of the
original. Continued loan of historical styles is manifested as denial of the development of science,
industry and technology, advancing to audacious results.

 
 
Fig.  1:  Moorish  Castle,  (from:  http://www.ecotravellerguide.com/2014/08/wandering-­‐sublime-­‐sintra/)  
 
 

 
 
Fig.  2:  Sintra  National  Palace,  (from:  http://janemariag.blogspot.pt/)  

The charm of Sintra, its climate and its unique landscape, is rediscovered by the romantic spirit of
foreign visitors and the Portuguese aristocracy. The National Pena Palace and its surrounding parks
were sent to build on the ruins of the Monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena in 1838 by Ferdinand II in
accordance with the aesthetics of Romanticism, incorporating artistic elements of other epochs. The
emergence of the Romantic Movement in the XIX century gave Sintra a great reborn with the
installation of many European aristocrats. The Monserrate Palace, Quinta da Regaleira and Quinta de
Relógio are also examples of the importance of this movement and the transformation of the Sintra
landscape into a mystery and magic environment.

 
  

Fig.  3:  National  Pena  Palace,  (from:  http://www.serradesintra.net/palacios-­‐de-­‐sintra/palacio-­‐da-­‐pena)  

 
 
Fig.  4:  Monserrate  Palace,  (from:  http://liveportugal.pt/parque-­‐e-­‐palacio-­‐de-­‐monserrate/)  

 
 
Fig.  5:  Quinta  da  Regaleira,  (from:  http://atracoessintra.no.sapo.pt/regaleira.htm)  

 
  

Sintra is since 1995 declared as a World Heritage City. Our object of study, although not of cultural
importance, is situated within the protection zone of this city.

3.2 Quinta das Murtas

The mansion is of the late nineteenth century (about 1880), built by Eduardo Van Zeller (1819-1889),
a gift to his daughter Cecilia Maria van Zeller (1867-1959) who married in May 1885, with one of the
descendants of King João VI, D. Manuel Rodrigo de Castro Pereira (1858-1921) (Fig. 6) [3].

 
 
Fig.  6:  Quinta  das  Murtas  

The property consists of a main building and two service buildings of inferior importance. The main
building full of architectural influences is subject of this study. These influences are brought by
Portuguese and European artists who spread a wide range of examples of revivalist architecture
throughout the landscape, which results in a combination of decorative elements with proportions and
combinations, which do not obey any constructive rules [3].
The mansion was initially composed of three floors: basement, ground floor and first floor. It was
inherited by Rodrigo de Castro Pereira (1887-1983), one of the sons of Manuel Rodrigo de Castro
Pereira and his wife. They ordered to raise another floor in the building, the second floor, keeping the
original design of the facades but increasing the variety of styles [3].
On the first floor, there is the central balcony window double arched the Neo-Manueline (Portuguese
variant of Neo-Gothic manifested in large scale in the National Pena Palace) which develops a
pediment with balusters in stone.
The northern facade of the building is attached to a hidden tunnel; a passage to the garden,
ornamenting the surroundings with a wooden structure used as recreational space.
The exterior doors arched in Tudor style, the English taste, which show the evolution of the pointed
arch, thanks to construction technologies, start to "shoot down" until almost be horizontal lintels. The
windows in double arch show the Neo-Manueline, Portuguese variant of the Gothic Revival.
Pretended corners on the façade of the mansion represent geometric figures, which represent the
foundation of the traces of the middle ages.
The triforium made up of the interior arches recalls the features of the architect António Tomás da
Fonseca Quinta do Relógio built around 1850, which is assumed as the first fully Neo-Arabian
building. The columns of eastern style that support it, recall the features of the Monserrate Palace and
the feigned entrance ceilings urge romantic manifestations.
The building and its surroundings assume oriental aesthetic with its lush gardens where the climate
favours the cultivation of plant species from all over the world.
The interior spaces decorated with classicism refinement welcome noble leisure moments of everyday
protocols.

3.3 Recovery planning

The recent owners found this mansion in an abandoned and very degraded position. As the building is
situated in the patrimonial protected zone of Sintra, according to the existing regulations the external
elements of the building cannot be changed. Therefore, the new owners, without changing the
entrance of the property, the front yard, the façade and the roof, remodelled and transformed the
interior of the building to a small hotel. After more than 15 years of successful use, various severe
pathologies where encountered, which originated this study.
In the first two visits the pathologies were identified and registered. Technical documents, neither
architectural nor engineering, where available, even not in the archives of the municipality, only a few
historic literatures making mention of this building could be found. The process of transformation of the

 
  

building was gradually. The landlord gradually expanded the hotel, at the beginning in the first two
floors and later in the third floor. The lack of documents showed that nothing had been designed even
not the water supply system that had been installed in accordance with expansion of the hotel.
Therefore, for our planning the building had to be measured and plants had to be designed to
complete the registry of the pathologies identified.
As mentioned before, a few new pathologies concerning water infiltration occurred with severe
damages that requested immediate action. The roof and two ceilings in the second and third floor had
to be opened to find a rapid intervention possibility. Some structural problems were detected but
mainly most of the pathologies like damaged or humid plaster, rotten wood bars or low pressure in a
few bathrooms of the last floor were caused by infiltration and the latter because of missing design of
the water supply system, which couldn’t support the variation of pressure in the tubes and altered
sooner as expected.
This study treats the recovery of the water supply system, and as such, after the formulation of the
diagnosis, it was clear that recovery of the water supply system could only be realized through total
renewing and design of the system. The question is which kind of supply system and tube material to
choose and if the hot water supply should have a return system. Many options are available in the
market and it depends now on the owners and the users of the building to decide what system to
choose. As mentioned before the cultural value is restricted to the exterior and as the building is
functioning as a hotel the main users of the building are temporary short-term users and only
interested in a primary comfort as hotel guest, naturally the landlord inclines in such a case for an
economic solution with reasonable durability.
One of the structural conditions that had been discovered is the fact that in each floor the wooden bars
in the pavement have perpendicular directions in each room. This made it impossible to install the
tubes in the pavement because of lack of continuity. Technical floor baseboards had to be excluded
too, as corridors do not offer the necessary space. The theoretical option of installing the water supply
system behind a false ceiling in the corridors was rejected correctly by the owner the hotel staff, as it
would totally change the original architecture in the old fashioned corridors with high ceilings pleasing
through its simplicity. Finally, we decided to conduct the plumbing run on top of the walls close to the
ceilings, partially passing through the ceiling or pavement whenever the change to other rooms or
divisions allowed it, and from there to supply the equipment beneath. This reduced the pressure drop,
facilitated to maintain water quality across the installations and turned the system more economical.
Regarding all these points, even the hot water supply with return system turns to be less economical,
considering the energy saving. The hotel has very little clients through the winter months and very little
hot water use through the summer months because of the outside temperature. So far the
functionalities and technologies of the possible systems are compared. The study about the energy
saving of the hot water recirculation systems will be published in a further paper, which is studied for
another application.
The final decision now concerns the materials considering their costs, durability, environmental
comfort, embodied energy and gas emission through fabrication.
In this study the tubes of synthetic materials used for potable cold or hot water supply under pressure
are all considered as multilayers according to the state of the art with a layer of aluminium in between.
These tubes made of cross-linked polyethylene (PE-X), polypropylene (PP), polybutylene (PB) and
chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (PVC-C) are compared with conventional materials as copper or
stainless steel (simply inox from French inoxydable). As the synthetic materials have very similar
technical specifications regulated by EN 806 (Specifications for installations inside buildings conveying
water for human consumption), they are joined together in table 1 for simplicity. But in figures 7 and 8
the synthetic tubes are separated concerning their distinguished data for comparison.

Tab. 1: Comparison of materials specifications for potable water tubes

MATERIAL UNITY SYNTHETIC COPPER STAINLESS
PB, PP, PE-X, PVC-C STEEL
NORMS EN 806 EN 1057 EN 10088
WEIGHT kg/m 0,137 - 0,193 0,486 0,426
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY W/mK 0,41 – 0,43 305 15
DURABILITY Years 50 - 60 no limit no limit
COSTS € 2,38 – 3,30 7,04 2,50
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY with 20mm 2
W/m K 0,17 0,17 0,17
rock wool
EMBODIED ENERGY tube only MJ/m 9,25 - 16,20 20,41 8,43
GAS EMISSIONS kgCO2e/m 0,44 - 0,49 1,32 0,62

The comparison shows first that regarding durability there is no specific concern, as the hotel needs to
update its style regularly and is planning to remodel again in the next 20 years. The thermal

 
  

conductivity is calculated according to the EN ISO 12241, which regulates the thermal insulation of
building equipment and industrial insulation. The numbers show that the insulation is so dominant that
2
in all cases the thermal conductivity of 0,17 W/m K turns to be equal for all materials.
About the costs it has to be said that stainless steel tubes, although reasonable in material costs, turn
to be more expensive regarding the work time and the number of connections to install that are much
more complicated as the multilayer tubes that can easily be formed and hooked together. The costs
vary between all the tube kinds and are shown separately in figure 7. The polypropylene PP multilayer
tube is the less expensive alternative considering the material costs.

8 7.04
7
6
5
4
3 2.38 2.5 2.5

2 1.58 1.41
1
0
PB PP PE-X PVC-C COPPER INOX

Costs (€)

Fig. 7:Cost comparison of tube materials

The embodied energy is calculated for a meter of tube, as the run is equal for all tube kinds. It includes
the energy consumed for manufacturing until fabric’s gate. Likewise the gas emissions, additionally
they are “converted to CO2e which captures more than just carbon dioxide (methane, PFC's...etc.)” [4].
Figure 8 shows the distribution of these indicators for the chosen tube kinds. As mentioned before the
synthetic tubes are listed separately as the embodied energy varies very much. Once more in case of
inox and copper must be mentioned that connections raise the energy consumption and gas
emissions, more than in case of the synthetic tubes that need less connections. These details will be
studied in a further study when detailed plumbing planning for all the tube materials are available and
a righteous comparison can be realized.

25
20.41
20
15.61 16.29
15 12.3
9.25 8.43
10

5
0.47 0.49 0.44 1.32 0.62
0.38
0
PB PP PE-X PVC-C COPPER INOX

EE (MJ/m) CO2e (kgCO2/m)

Fig. 8: Comparison of Embodied Energy (EE) and Gas Emissions (CO2e) of tube materials [4]

 
  

4. Conclusion

The developed methodology was applicable on the case study and very close to real procedure of
decision-making. Although for the landlord the decisions to make where merely dependent to the
economy, but the methodology showed ability in all stages of decision-making capable of leading and
guiding through the procedure of identification of pathologies to survey, to diagnosis, to define the
heritage and its cultural value, to elaborate intervention possibilities and finally conducting to the final
decision how to rehabilitate.

Bibliographical References
[1] Alegre, H., Marques, J., Pina, A., and Coelho, S. (2008) Methodological Approach for the
Rehabilitation of Water Distribution Systems: Case Study Application Based on the CARE-W System.
Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium 2006: pp. 1-19. doi: 10.1061/40941(247)21

[2] Lanzinha, J., Freitas, V.P. & Gomes, J.P. 2002, ‘Development of exigencial diagnosis methodology
applied to building rehabilitation’, XXX IAHS World Congress on Housing, Housing Construction – An
Interdisciplinary Task, Coimbra, Portugal, 9-13 September 2002, vol. 2, pp. 1811-1818.
[3] Proença, Ana. Palacete das Murtas - Inovação e originalidade no coração de Sintra, Mansion of
Murtas – Innovation and originality in the heart of Sintra, (Translated by Sazedj, Soheyl). Number 23
of Journal Portugal Homes, January/February, p. 25-29, Lisbon 2001,
http://www.monumentos.pt/Site/APP_PagesUser/SIPA.aspx?id=10056, consulted on March 2016.

[4] Hammond, G. and Jones, C. Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE), Department of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Bath (UB), Bath, (2011)

 
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